Pursuing My True Self
by Kuro Shiro Kami Chan
Summary: Filia is plagued with nightmares about a girl who looks like her attempting to kill her every time. But on the way she finds remnants of her past and who she might really be. First Skullgirls fanfiction, please be kind, rate and review. This story contains Fukua as well (but she didn't appear on the character listing). Some Filia x Fukua a little later on.
1. Chapter 1

**I GOT SKULLGIRLS FOR MY BIRTHDAY :D**

**But even prior to when I was kindly gifted the game through Steam I was a big fan of it and kept up with Skullgirls news, including when Fukua was introduced. Although when I saw Fukua I came to my own conclusion to who she was after watching her trailer.**

**At first I thought she was representing Filia's past self because Fukua was basically a color swap of Filia and hell Fukua's story mode was just Filia's dream with some Twin Peaks at the end.**

**But never the less I didn't figure out what the creators had in store for Fukua until much later after her trailer was released, but I'd like to share my little Skullgirls story with you all.**

**And this is my first Skullgirls fanfiction :D … so forgive me if it's tacky and or BAD…**

Filia woke up abruptly when Samson prevented her from bumping her pretty little forehead against the hardwood floor. He sprung her body up and allowed her to stand up-right.

"Hey Filia, you have the day off from school today right?" The parasite asked, steadying his host.

"I'll be fine Samson… Maybe going to school will help me forget the nightmare-."

"NO. YOU'RE STAYING HERE. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SCHOOL TODAY." Very protective of his host, Samson only wanted the best for her and would make sure she wouldn't go to school. Even when she tried to walk out of the door of this small bedroom they were borrowing from one of Samson's friends, the parasite stretched out his arms and grabbed onto the bedroom walls. "NOPE, YOU'RE GOING BACK TO BED."

"Samson, it's important for me to go to school. Aside from chasing after the Skullheart, it could help me retain some memories. If I don't go to school-."

"No. You've been having back to back nightmares recently. I won't let you go anywhere."

Filia immediately gave up. "Fine. I won't go to school, but I have to go tomorrow."

"That's for me to decide kid."

Filia sighed, going back to sleep.

However like the past few nights she had the same nightmare again…

"We're gonna get you." The girl appeared in her dream, a clone of herself with brown skin and green hair that looked almost like Samson but much less chatty. Small lights like fireflies seemingly floated around the clone, rising up from her flesh and fading away as they rose high enough into the cold air. In a nightmarish Maplecrest, what appeared to be ghosts or illusions began to kick and punch Filia violently and the clone appeared above her body only to be drilled into by her parasite's tendrils. "This is fun."

Filia woke up again, only this time screaming to the top of her lungs and still in bed. "I can't take it anymore! Who the hell was I?"

Samson stood silent, knowing that his innocent host was desperate to find her memories. He sighed and made her get up. "Kid, you're gonna get some food in you, relax and then we're gonna try sleeping again and if not we'll go out… Ok?"

"I don't know why this keeps happening… Who was I? Why do I keep seeing these things?"

"Calm down kid." In an attempt to calm her down he wrapped his tendrils around his host's chest as if to hug her from behind. "Just eat something. I'll make you a milkshake."

Filia had no other choice but to calm down and do some breathing excersizes she found on the internet. She breathed in through her nose for 3 seconds than out through her mouth for 3 seconds. She repeated this until she felt calm.

The exited the room Samson borrowed for the night and went to a small kitchen area where other parasites similar to Samson as well as their hosts were eating and talking with one another. However the hosts varied from self-aware and functioning to having given up control to their parasite. Although as nervous as she was, Filia opened up the fridge and took out some ice cream and milk, dumping their contents into a blender, holding the top on and turning it into a delicious beverage. Adding some ice cubes and chocolate sauce, just preparing it managed to calm her down.

"You feel better kid?"

"A little…"

"A little is better than nothing."

"I guess you're right…"

"Do you wanna try going back to bed?"

"Maybe its better if I take a walk or something… I don't feel tired. Maybe I need some fresh air."

After drinking a chocolate shake she put on her school uniform and went outside for a walk around New Meridian.

The streets of New Meridian didn't have much to offer the amnesiac student. And although she hid Samson under her hat but she could still hear him mumbling about how if any perverts tried to touch her he'd kill them. She appreciated his concern even if he did have a tendency to over-do it…

She walked around New Meridian hoping to find a clue as to who she was, but didn't find anything. She looked in the nice shop windows and in the windows of busy cafes but didn't find anything. She came across the cemetery when the idea occurred to her that maybe she'd find a few records there.

"There should be something here that can tell me who I am… Like if my family died?" She stood in front of the cemetery gates, Samson talking to her under her hat.

"Do you remember what your last name was? You won't get far if you don't know that."

"Oh right… I don't remember what it was yet…" She sighed, her idea of searching through death certificates dying quicker than she anticipated.

_'__it's Medici you fool. You're Filia Medici. How could you not remember?'_

The voice sounded all too familiar as if the girl in the dream somehow materialized in the real world. It immediately made Filia get a panic and caused Samson to get over protective, eating up Filia's hat and looking around for whoever or whatever was making his host nervous.

"God dammit, pervert must've got away…"

"No Samson, it wasn't a pervert… It was the voice of the girl in my dream…"

She looked in one direction with Samson looking in the opposite direction but they found no girl or any pervert anywhere in site. Only innocent passersby, rich people of New Meridian gossiping about whatever they liked gossiping about. That didn't matter.

"I think it's Medici… The voice said my name was Filia Medici…" The scared host said quietly enough for only Samson to hear. "But isn't that the name of the mobster?"

"Well there are a lot of other people who have that last name so it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Then again if you are related to that guy it'll cause trouble…"

"I'm ok. Besides, I have you to protect me."

With that Samson smiled in a rather smug fashion, spitting up Filia's hat in order to hide himself once again. "Alright kid, let's go. Might as well try looking here to start. But you should probably use another name just incase you are related…"

So they went to the cemetery, unaware of the dark green ghost-like presence watching them as they entered.

"You ready kid?"

"This should be fun… It's about time she knows who she really is."

**Alright, crappy first chapter I can admit it. But this is my first Skullgirls story and I shall do my best :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A few of you guys actually liked this Skullgirls fanfiction. And it's my first one like EVER! :D**

**So here I go again. I am going to try to stick to canon as much as possible HOWEVER Alex Ahad has said himself that none of the storylines we've played through in the game are the canon storylines so that kind of gives writers of Skullgirls fic a bit of an excuse to play around.**

**It's my theory that Cerebella personally knew Filia due to a line she says after she beats Filia: "The new do just isn't you", so you'll be seeing her in this story as well. We might even see a bit of a Madoka and Homura-ish relationship between those two, but I'm going to keep it a surprise for now ;)**

**P.S. I'm good at playing Skullgirls and imaging fight scenes in my head… but I'm still working on how to describe fights in words…**

Filia walked around the cemetery in order to find out where she might've come from. The girl from her dream told her she was Filia Medici but there was only one notorious Medici family in the Canopy Kingdom. Being advised to use an alias, she thought that is anyone asked she'd call herself Felice Medici, because surely she thought that it would separate her from the infamous mafia goons. If she was related to them though, she'd have to be prepared to face the consequences.

She walked past numerous graves, none of them with the names 'Filia' or 'Medici' on them. This assured her somewhat that no one thought she was dead; Filia was somewhat of a unique name after all. And while the Medici family certainly made their name famous in the eyes of history, it didn't mean they were the only ones with that last name. There was still a chance she wasn't related to them, or so she thought. She stopped in front of the mausoleum, sighing and asking Samson:

"If I am related to the Medici family… What would that mean?"

Samson yawned from underneath the hat, answering in a groggy voice. "It means you're mafia. You'd be a little mafia princess and that's that. Typically women just make babies and look pretty in the mafia. Not much else. On occasion when you DO see a woman doing service for the mafia she's either a negotiator, assassin or…" He growled, not wanting to continue by saying 'or a prostitute' to Filia.

"Samson?"

"Sorry… Look, women aren't really involved with the mafia and the few that are just pop out kids and the few that DO work are screwed for life! YOU'RE SCREWED EITHER WAY NO MATTER WHAT YOUR PLACE IS!"

"O-okay?" Filia started getting tense again. "So, what does that mean for me? Am I a princess or something?"

"You're still young so even if you were related to mobsters you were probably raised either one of two ways: choice number one is that you knew full well about the mafia and the family's criminal activities. Choice number two is that they tried keeping you away from that stuff as much as possible by spoiling you and giving you whatever you wanted. Either way you must've grown up with a silver spoon in your mouth."

She sighed again, calming down. "Princess, huh?" She looked the mausoleum up and down, contemplating about whether or not she should go inside or find someone who worked there to help her look through death records. "Speaking of princesses… If I am related to the Medici's, Princess Parasoul might want me dead…"

"Never mind Princess Pencil Pusher, you and me can take her on any day. So are you going in or not?"

Taking a deep breath in order to keep her composure, she nodded, knocking on the doors of the mausoleum.

"Hello?"

No answer.

"HELLO?"

Still nothing…

She sighed, sitting on the concrete and wondering if she'd ever find herself. The possibilities raced through her mind, seeing herself with or without the Medici family and questioning whether or not she'd be able to handle mob-life. She was about to get up to try knocking on the door again when a tan girl wearing orange walked toward her.

"Hey… How did you get here? And why ARE you here?"

Filia looked at the girl from top to bottom. She was a busty chick, so much so her breasts were almost spilling out of her costume. And it was a costume, because no normal person would walk around in such a thing with pointy shoes and a hat that looked like it has a face on it. This girl carried the hat in her arms, perhaps feeling like it was warm outside and that her green hair needed to breathe rather than suffocate under a hat made of thick-looking orange material to match the rest of her outfit.

This girl didn't seem familiar to Filia, but she was a site to look at with her outfit alone…

"Who are you?" Filia asked, still sitting at the front door of the mausoleum and hearing Samson start to quietly and angrily growl under the hat. "Do you know who I am?"

"Look, I don't have time for this. I know who you are but you have to GET OUT." The tan girl put her hat on only for it to sprout muscle-bound arms once it was placed on her head. "I don't want to have to get rough with you. I actually want to enjoy my break."

"Please, if you know who I am then tell me!"

"Well tell me what the hell you're doing here!"

Nervously getting up, Filia looked around to see if anyone else might be able to help. Sadly the cemetery was completely empty, only filled with tombstones and gifts for the deceased. No one to help her find out who she was except maybe for this girl who seemed more ready to fight than give her any information. But Filia was too innocent…

"IF YOU KNOW WHO SHE IS THAN TELL HER WHAT HER NAME IS!" Samson ate the hat that concealed him and created numerous drills, all of them pointed at the girl in the orange. "That's the only way you can really prove you're right."

"Samson, please…"

But the girl in orange only stood silent. "Alright, if you wanna do it the hard way… But let me tell you one thing: HEAD GEAR IS MY GIMMICK!"

The arms on either side of her hat seemed to move on their own, picking up Filia by her legs and hanging her upside down; Samson having to drill into the giant man hands to make it let them go. Once they were on the ground he aimed his drill straight for the tan girl's head only for the other huge hand to block his attack.

Both girls backed away.

Hair wrapped around Filia, forming her into a spiked ball and Samson controlling the direction. They rolled around as fast as possible, richocheting off of tombstones and trees to confuse the other girl before confusing her and her living hat so much that they could only block an attack from above and have them forget that their bottom half was still vunerable. Samson went for the legs, causing the other girl to fall. Once she was down he left Filia take control again and they drilled away at her together.

Of course, the impact of the girl being drilled into wasn't much. Despite the hair looking like a sharp drill, it was supposed to be more of a punch or an extremely hard poke. On anything else however Samson didn't hold back, but it was only because of his host he didn't drill into another human's insides and get blood all over his tendrils and in turn his host's hair.*

The girl couldn't be drilled at forever though, her muscle-bound hat grabbing them by the tendrils and throwing them up into the air. While they were still airborne, the tan girl did a handstand, a blade coming out of the bottom of her boot waiting to stab them when they landed.

But Samson gave Filia wings, allowing them to fly up just inches before touching the blade.

"Oh for crying out loud…" The girl with her muscle-bound hat was getting annoyed but still stood tall, seeing Filia land softly on the ground. "Those wings aren't too shabby. You've certainly changed…"

"So you do know me… Tell me who I am. I've had amnesia for the longest and I can't remember…" Filia settled down, as the girl seemed too annoyed to fight anymore. "Please… tell me…"

The girl took her hat off, it's arms disappearing. "Name's Cerebella, does that ring any bells?"

"You're a member of that circus troop going all over the Canopy Kingdom right now. The so called 'Diamond in the Rough'. My host is too focused on her mission to really pay attention to that, but that doesn't mean I can't look around and pay attention to media every now and then." Samson smirked. "So how do you know my host?"

He was careful not to blurt out Filia's name or the alias she was going to use. Blurting out her real name could not only cause problems with the passers-by as well as the mafia, but it would also be giving Cerebella the answer. If she indeed DID know Filia, she should be able to say her name off the top of her head.

"Ok, you know who I am. That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"My host was looking for her memories. She can't remember who she is. So if you REALLY know who she was or who her family is, you should be able to tell us. Catch my drift?"

"Honestly… I feel kind of bad for Vitale at times like this…." Cerebella loosened her ponytail slightly. "I can't tell you… It's too dangerous right now. There's a new Skull Girl on the loose, I'm busy looking for the Life Gem… Look, now's not the best time for you to be asking me about who you are."

"BUT YOU SAID YOU KNOW WHO I AM!" Filia yelled, breathing heavily and now angry. "We already fought eachother and you're saying all of these things… Tell me who I am already! You have to know at least SOMETHING… Even something little… Like my name or who my family is…"

Cerebella knew better than to talk about Vitale and Lorenzo so carelessly. The Medici mafia and everyone involved with them taught her everything she knew. Vitale was the closest thing to a father-figure she had. Black Dahlia taught her how to hide knives in her shoes. The Cirque de Cartes was funded completely by the mafia. She owed them so much… But spilling her guts about the mafia now would screw up everything.

"Look Filia, I can't tell you anything! Leave me alone… Go home, go back to school, do anything you want, just don't ask me for anymore answers!" Cerebella left in a huff, putting Vice Versa on and jumping up, causing him to spread his arms and making them glide away on a nice gust of wind.

But Filia was speechless, standing in front of the mausoleum not sure if she should cry out of sadness or happiness. She sat down where she stood, covering up her face and trying to think about what was going on. Cerebella blurted out her name… And so despite the fact she wanted to cry she smiled saying:

"Someone knows who I am…"

**CHAPTER DONE, I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS FOR THIS STORY NOW :D**

***This is just me trying to think about what might happen if you tried applying certain Skullgirls characters' fighting styles in the real world. Filia's hair (Samson) can turn into drills but in gameplay we see no blood or gore whenever we perform any sort of punch. An attack like Valentine's scalples being thrown at an enemy would make sense in the real world. You get stabbed-you get blood. But I didn't know what to make of Filia's drill-like attacks. If you use a drill on human skin in real life the results are horror-movie like in terms of how much torture you're putting your victim in. And I know that Skullgirls is just a game and that if gore or blood were put in the game it might up the rating, but it did make me wonder. A lot of the other characters have more reasonable attacks that can be replicated in the real world (excluding Miss Fortune's head-exclusive attacks, Vice-Versa's attacks and some of Peacock's antics). Filia's hair drillscan't which makes me wonder what would happen if you tried to replicate her attacks in the real world and what it might actually do to somebody. To stay in the spirit of the game, I'm really ignoring gore for this story unless it's necessary so until a really rough and brutal battle, the drills have the impact of a cut, extremely hard poke or a punch… I don't really know how else to put it… **

**But I'm going to go NUTS with Valentine though, because I've written for 2P!Italy enough times to describe her kinds of attacks ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy 2015! For those of you who REALLY wanted this story to continue, I AM GOING TO CONTINUE IT but there's an explanation an update took so long in the author's notes below. But I know you guys really wanted an update, so for now we're playing with power!**

Filia had gotten herself together and went to the Madmen café. She decided that treating herself to a vanilla milkshake and a grilled cheese would cheer her up. Samson also thought she needed a break, as Cerebella seemed to know Filia, saying her name without him introducing Filia to her outright. He was careful to make sure he wouldn't have done so accidentally. And just as they'd hoped, Cerebella knew Filia's name…

'I finally met someone who knows who I am… Or who I might've been…' Filia drank her milkshake, watching the TV above the bar and listening to the news. As usual, it was always stuff praising Princess Parasoul and the Black Egrets, the weather and other typical Canopy Kingdom news.

And after her recent realization that she might've been related to the infamous Medici mafia, the paid extra attention to any mafia-related news.

More importantly, she needed to track down Cerebella because she seemed to know her from somewhere. She thought about how Samson said he recognized her and she was a member of the circus troop the Cirque de Cartes, 'Diamond in the Rough' he said. So remembering this she decided she'd take a trip to the circus… If only she could afford a ticket…

"It's the only lead we got, but we can barely afford a hotel room for one night…" Filia sighed, finishing off her milkshake and looking at the cherry now lonely at the bottom of the glass.

"Hey, cheer up kid! It's a lead after all. She knew your name! Even from the get-go she seemed ticked off that you were at that graveyard! She must know you even if indirectly." Samson pointed out, still under the hat but letting one tendril sneak out so he could pat Filia on the shoulder.

She knew he was right but couldn't help but feel depressed… And there was also the fact she'd never been to a circus before… She was doubly pissed and upset. "I can't even afford a ticket to continue my investigation…" She muttered, puncturing the cherry with the straw and eating it whole and almost choking on the stem as a result.

"HEY KID, KEEP IT TOGETHER!" and slapping her on the back once was enough to lodge the stem out. "I know you're upset but yeesh! Keep it together otherwise you'll never figure out your past! Plus we still have the skullheart to worry about."

At times like this Samson had his work cut out for him… But Filia was a nice kid. Clumsy and sometimes too nice for her own good, but still nice. You could always deal with and work well with a nice person. He was about to suggest sneaking into the circus the old fashioned way when he peaked out from under the hat and saw a good opportunity for the both of them in the form of a milkshake drinking contest.

"Hey kid, look behind you!"

Filia did so, seeing the poster that hung on the wall which said in big bold letters:

MILKSHAKE DRINKING CONTEST! WHOEVER CAN DRINK THE MOST MILKSHAKES GETS 2 FREE TICKETS TO THE CIRQUE DE CARTES!

And immediately Filia thought the idea of her in a milkshake drinking contest was… fattening…

'Not sure if this is a good idea…' Filia thought, thinking it over and imaging herself as big as a hot air balloon if she were to participate. But the tickets were free provided you could drink a lot of milkshakes and keep them down…

"Well it is free food. Plus I've seen you scarf down plenty of milkshakes since we first met!"

"SAMSON!"

"Hey kid, I'm only being honest."

Free tickets if she won… Free milkshakes regardless… Possibility of vomiting from consuming so much milk if she participated at all… She sighed, thinking about what she should do for a bit longer...

'Well… There's gotta be some way of getting to the Cirque de Cartez without getting thrown in jail!'

**Later that evening…**

Cerebella looked at herself in the mirror in her dressing room. Vitale had given her a private dressing room the size of a studio apartment and a mirror which allowed her to see 6 of herself in the glass that matched her ego. In the glass, mirrors reflecting eachother allowed her to see herself in infinite dimensions. Though while she looked at her orange costume and green ponytail in the mirror, she could only think about her encounter with Filia.

She sighed, calling out to Vice Versa, who was admiring itself in a small mirror of it's own. "Hey Vice? I know you can't talk or anything, but can I ask you something?"

Vice Versa put the mirror face down on the floor, looking at it's owner as to say 'yes, what's the problem?'

"It's about Filia… She can't remember who she was. That's why she was at the graveyard; to find out who her family was. Getting Samson attached to her head did a number on her too. She got really big!"

She and Vice Versa shared a snarky giggle on the subject of Filia's body fat.

"Yeah… Still, seeing her investigating the past isn't a good thing. Though we can't let security know she's here either, she'd be dragged back into this life in an instant… Guess it's up to us."

Vice Versa nodded, moving in a way that suggested it wanted to be picked up or worn. So walking to the parasitic hat, Cerebella picked it up, watching it's huge arms form before even putting it on her head and being trapped in a bear hug (or in this case, a hat hug?).

"It's up to us…"

Vice Versa let go and hopped onto it's owner's head.

"Show time I guess… Hopefully meeting up with Filia again won't make me lose my balance on the tight rope." Cerebella gulped hard, making her way to the ring. Feng and a few other circus performers finished up their routines and it was Cerebella and Vice Versa's turn to perform. Tonight was the usual routine: displaying awesome feats of strength with Vice Versa, picking up a variety of circus animals and interacting with the other members of the circus, occasionally interacting with an audience member or too if one were brave enough to volunteer. Finally, Cerebella and Vice Versa would go onto the tight rope, carrying two large elephants in each arm. Same old show as always.

'I'm the star of this show. No one can stop me!'

Cerebella tried to think positively while performing as passionately as always, going about the routine performance as usual with no flaws what so ever. When it was time to go up on the tight rope however, something felt different. Nothing too distracting and nothing bad. It was more an unshakable feeling that something wasn't where it belonged. Vice Versa seemed to feel it too, having to adjust the huge elephants in it's hands ever so slightly so the audience wouldn't see.

None the less, Cerebella went through with her routine without problems, receiving applause, cheering and praise. Even if the routine got somewhat predictable, this part never got old.

When returning backstage to her dressing room however, she found out what made even Vice Versa flinch…

Sitting on the small stool on the vanity, there was a smug looking parasite atop a girl's head with bright yellow eyes staring at Cerebella with a smile befitting a gangster who just made the deal of a lifetime.

"See Filia, I told you this was how we'd get more clues to the past…"

**Chapter end! (for now)**

**I must admit that Skullgirls inspired some aspects of an original story of mine. I've been working on this little story of mine since 2008 and I really wanna get it published one day. Hopefully I can get a Wacom tablet soon so I can practice drawing it out. Skullgirls helped me imagine how each character fights in my story but sadly I still can't really describe fighting well in words. Part of the reason why an update for this story took so long was because I've been working so hard on my original work. Another, more delicate reason why I haven't updated this in so long was because I've been in and out of the hospital and keeping up with an ill family member of mine. It's rather unfortunate, but thankfully she isn't suffering anymore. This year hasn't really been my year… I've been in and out of hospitals, having to take care of my family, trying to make a webcomic, finally getting more resources to further that dream, my editor for my original stuff is going off to college, home school was a bitch this year, I have to do summer school to get more credits and to top it all off, I lost a very important person in my life… So yeah, this year hasn't been my year… So in a state of somewhat heightened anxiety, I'm happy to say that I now have more time to write and that I want to continue using fanfiction as a writing tool to advance my writing! And when the day comes that my webcomic is a go, you can all read it, laugh at the comedy, enjoy the action and powerful lead female character and rejoice in the fact that you were always kind of/sort of first! So I AM BACK! If I can keep up my current schedule, I should be able to balance my original work, my fanfiction and all the other crud going on IRL. So thank you all for your support and I hope you enjoy whatever it is you like about my writing to the fullest.**


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